Ravinia 2024 Issue 2

TED SPERLING Recently music director for Broadway produc- tions of My Fair Lady , Fiddler on the Roof , and The King and I as well as supervising their na- tional and international tours, Ted Sperling is a multifaceted musician whose career has also spanned from concert halls to opera houses. The classically trained conductor, orchestrator, singer, pianist, violinist, and violist is artistic di- rector of MasterVoices, with which he has led productions of Weill’s The Firebrand of Florence , Knickerbocker Holiday , The Road of Promise , and Lady in the Dark ; Ricky Ian Gordon’s operas The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall and 27 at New York City Center; and Carnegie Hall per- formances of Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle , the Gershwins’ Of Thee I Sing and Let ’Em Eat Cake , and Herbert’s Babes in Toyland , among many other highlights. Sperling made his first Broadway appearance as an orchestra member of the original production of Sunday in the Park with George , and he made his acting debut in the original cast of Titanic as bandleader Wallace Hartley, but he is best known as a music direc- tor and conductor, with credits including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels , The Full Monty , How to Suc- ceed in Business Without Really Trying , Guys and Dolls , South Pacific , and The Light in the Piazza , for which he won the 2005 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for best orchestrations. Off-Broad- way, he directed the world premieres of Red Eye of Love , The Other Josh Cohen , See What I Wan- na See , and Striking 12 . Formerly principal con- ductor of the Westchester Philharmonic, Sper- ling has been a guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic and New York City Opera, Boston Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco Sympho- nies, plus such international ensembles as the Iceland Symphony, Czech National Symphony, and BBC Concert Orchestra. At Houston Grand Opera he led Audra McDonald’s one-woman double bill of Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Michael John LaChiusa’s Send (who are you? I love you) in its world premiere. Ted Sperling first appeared at Ravinia in 2000 and returns tonight for his ninth season. MORGAN JAMES Morgan James is a Juilliard-trained singer, actress, songwriter, and recording artist. A frequent orchestra pops soloist, she recent- ly appeared with the Nashville Symphony and Sinfonia Gulf Coast in “Get Happy,” a program honoring Judy Garland’s centennial, and she premiered a new show—“Symphonic Soul: The Magic of the Memphis Sound.” James has a spe- cial affinity for the music of Leonard Bernstein, having toured a solo program with conductor Teddy Abrams to the Breckinridge Music Fes- tival, Rhode Island and Malaysian Philharmon- ics, Louisville Orchestra, and Colorado, Utah, and Wichita Symphonies, as well as appeared in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s concert presenta- tion of West Side Story . Additionally, James has been featured in four productions of Bernstein’s Mass —at Ravinia with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as with the Louisville Orches- tra, the Philadelphia Orchestra (including a cast recording on Deutsche Grammophon), and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Carne- gie Hall and the Kennedy Center (recorded on Naxos). Her concert credits also include appear- ances at the Sun Valley Music Festival and with the Cleveland, Ocean City, and American Pops Orchestras and the Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Houston, San Diego, and Spokane Sympho- nies, among other ensembles. On Broadway, James has been featured in five original casts: The Addams Family , Wonderland , Godspell , and Motown: The Musical , as well as Kristin Che- noweth’s For the Girls . She routinely tours both sides of the Atlantic with her soul band and has also done so with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, additionally appearing on 10 of the group’s music videos and its Australian tours. As a recording artist, James most recently re- leased Nobody’s Fool , her fifth studio album of original music alongside Memphis Magnetic , A Very Magnetic Christmas , Reckless Abandon , and her debut Hunter . She has also recorded mul- tiple covers of complete albums, including The Beatles’ “White Album” and Joni Mitchell’s Blue , and a live album dedicated to the music of Nina Simone. Morgan James made her Ravinia debut in the 2018 production of Bernstein’s Mass and returned in 2021 for a Bernstein program and last summer with “The Trailblazing Music of Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon.” RYAN SHAW Ryan Shaw is a three-time Grammy-nominated artist for his solo projects, Columbia Records’ This is Ryan Shaw , his In Between , and Dyno- tone’s Real Love . He has shared the stage with such artists as Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, John Legend, B.B. King and Jill Scott. His music has been featured on FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars , Grey’s Anatomy , and Lincoln Heights , as well as in the films My Blueberry Nights and Bride Wars and on the Sex and the City soundtrack. Shaw’s starring roles have included Judas in the Lyr- ic Opera of Chicago’s Olivier Award–winning London production of Jesus Christ Superstar , the original Stevie Wonder in Motown: The Mu- sical on Broadway, and as the Soul of Michael Jackson in Thriller Live on London’s West End. Shaw debuted at Radio City Music Hall in the Dream Concert benefit for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. His Carnegie Hall appear- ances include the venue’s Elton John and Bernie Taupin Tribute , A Celebration of The African American Cultural Legacy , and a Nat King Cole centenary concert with the New York Pops. His concert credits have also included Nat King Cole at 100 with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center and with the Nashville Symphony, as well as A Tribute to the Queen of Soul: Aretha Franklin with numerous orchestras across North America. Shaw recently premiered his new solo orchestral show, Ryan Shaw: Mas- ters of R&B at the Ferguson Center for the Arts with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. He was a featured guest in the 92nd Street Y’s recent presentation of Lyrics & Lyricists What’s Going On?: Songs of Change . Shaw’s most recent album, Imagining Marvin , showcases Marvin Gaye hits alongside original songs and features Gram- my-winning co-writers Valerie Simpson and Rob Thomas, and special guests Derek Trucks, Rob Thomas, Robert Randolph, and Shoshana Bean. Ryan Shaw is making his Ravinia and Chi- cago Symphony Orchestra debuts. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 87 CHARLESCHESSLER(SPERLING)